Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Former Blue Cross CEO: Company Struggled to Provide Employee Insurance

There has to be wrong with the current national paradigm for health insurance when Blue Cross, which provides health insurance for 1 out of every 3 Americans, struggles to provide for health insurance for their own employees.

Joseph Frick, former President and CEO of Independence Blue Cross, spoke at the America Israel Chamber of Commerce healthcare IT conference. Frick, who currently is Vice Chairman and Managing Partner at Diversified Search, considered the mission of Blue Cross was not to sell insurance but to provide health care security.

From his speech:

"As the former CEO of a company that employed over 6000 employees, I cared deeply about the health and vitality of my workforce and their families, but grappled with the annual, unpredictable costs of over $50 million to provide healthcare coverage. Some asked isn't it free for your company. The answer is no."

He argued that the current system is not maintainable.

"Despite over $2.6 trillion dollars in healthcare spending (over 16% of GDP), the number of non- insured elderly patients reached 49.1 million in 2010. In short, the current operating model is not sustainable.

He proposed solutions.

"We need to accelerate the transformation of our industry from one that is architected around activity and volume to one that is structured, aligned, and incented around outcomes and value.